Drying softwood

gutteruu

So myself and father in law bought a full artic lorry load of logs (syca-spruce? maybe). Cut them up and split them. They are fairly dry already, I'm guessing they were left out for a year already.

I have them heaped in an open mushroom tunnel/shed. 1 end of shed is completely open, other end slightly. There is some air movement. Question is, will they dry out and season ok if they are heaped up in a mushroom shed? I plan to take a few loads out next march and leave outside to dry next summer before using next Sep.

Thanks

reilig

Saw them (and splitting them now will be easier than when fully dried). Stack them under cover. It's the only way that you will truly get them to dry below 30% moisture.

gutteruu

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I have them sawed up and split. But because they isn't a huge airflow going through the shed I was curious if they would dry anyway.

reilig

gutteruu wrote: »

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I have them sawed up and split. But because they isn't a huge airflow going through the shed I was curious if they would dry anyway.

Even if only a small airflow, they will dry. You'll know by the weight if they are dry or not - each log will be less than half the fresh weight when cut. Could you open up the other end of the tunnel a bit more?

I wouldn't be too concerned. I stacked some wood in a fairly closed shed with very low air movement and it still dried out perfectly over 12 months.

gutteruu

Good to know. Much appreciated.

wexie

Sorry to jump in but I'm hoping someone here might be able to help.

I was ringing around for firewood today and spoke to a guy selling hardwood that according to him) was harvested in march and stored inside.

I've always been under the impression that wood needed to be seasoned for about 12 months, possibly even longer for hardwood.

Could anyone clarify?

thanks!

SIX PACK

gutteruu wrote: »

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I have them sawed up and split. But because they isn't a huge airflow going through the shed I was curious if they would dry anyway.

If you have a few pallets put the firewood on top of them to speed up the drying process

TopTec

Wexie - It all depends on the type of wood and the conditions that it is stored in that effects the length of time to dry enough for burning. There are a number of videos on U-Tube that show how wood can be stored to reduce the drying time.

For example I built a frame for drying some Whitethorn and Blackthorn. Beautiful wood to burn when under 20% moisture. Took 5 months to get it down to that level as it had a draught over and through it all the time.

Counter to that, I threw a load of old fir logs into a bay at the back of the Dairy and that wasn't dry enough to burn in 18 months.

TT

$kilkenny

Your timber will be grand where it is, dont even take it out to dry, it has 12 months to sit in a ventilated shed split already, it wont be a problem.
If your worried when re stocking the shed, do it when the weather is good like round easter and when its the best of weather, it minimises the amount of water in all the sticks, ud be amazed at the difference a shower can make to dry timber when storing them in a shed.

Oldtree

gutteruu wrote: »

So myself and father in law bought a full artic lorry load of logs (syca-spruce? maybe). Cut them up and split them. They are fairly dry already, I'm guessing they were left out for a year already.

I have them heaped in an open mushroom tunnel/shed. 1 end of shed is completely open, other end slightly. There is some air movement. Question is, will they dry out and season ok if they are heaped up in a mushroom shed? I plan to take a few loads out next march and leave outside to dry next summer before using next Sep.

Thanks

i
if you don't mind me asking were was the costs involved and was it easy to track down a suppler, how much weight or volume did you buy? is it local wood? tks

gutteruu

Oldtree wrote: »

i
if you don't mind me asking were was the costs involved and was it easy to track down a suppler, how much weight or volume did you buy? is it local wood? tks

Father in law organised it through another guy who sells timber locally. It took about 2 months to get it. As far as I know it was a coilte load that seems to be very dry and was meant for someone else but he wasn't around. Syca Spruce as far as I can tell. I don't know its origin. €1200 all in for a full lorry load. Driver said it was 24 tonnes, but he said a normal load of fresher stuff would weigh a lot more.

We went halves on it, but from what I can tell my 600 quids worth seems to be about 1800 quids worth cut up and split, rough guessing the volume by eye. Hard work, but its what you value your time at.

I really want to look out for some hardwood now. Maybe Ash. I'd prefer to buy it now and leave it drying.

dfbemt

I always dry my wood for 12 months minimum. My wood for winter next year was cut this Spring and chopped during the Summer. This rule applies to softwood and hardwood and I always provide ventilation from at least 2 sides, 3 if possible, and always stack on pallets so the air can circulate from the bottom up.

Only issue for me is storage space as I always have 2 lots of wood to store.

VNP

Think they get docked if the loads are over 24 going to some the mills, but if you load up the trucks you'd get 30 tonnes on no bother with fresher stuff gutteruu but doubt that weight difference would be a huge amount much more timber once its dried up and split . What links on utube have you seen for drying timber? must have a search whats not on u tube.